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A SEKMON 



UPON T II li 4 S S A S S I \ A T I !V 



PRESIDENT ABHAHAM mVOU 



At Washington, April the 14, A. D 1865; 



PREAdlED AT ( \RTHA(ii:, ILLINOIS, 



On M<«|iu><.«lsiy. A|Mil llir 191! . A. I>. tnii5. 



BY REV. H. H. NORTHtiOP, 



CAWril A<il-i:, I I.I.}-!.: 

THK CXRTHAfiK RKITMLICVN PIMNT 



A SERMON 
//re/ 



IIV COMMEMORATION OF THE ASSASSINATIOIV 



OF 



r^f 



PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LmCOM, 

At Washington, April the 14, A. D. i865; 

PKEACHED AT CARTHAGE, ILLII 

Ou lVeclue§<lay, April the 19th, A. D. IS65. 



CATtXHAGHG, ILLS.: 

THB CARTHAGE REPUBLICAN PRIN^. 
186S. 



SERMON 



"And the king said unto his servants "know ye I 

hot that there is a Prince and a great man fallen ') 

this day in Israel." — II. Samuel, iii chapter, 38 ? 

verse. < 

(XYN obedience to the proclamation of the ex- $ 

^1 ecutive of our state, we are assembled in this S 

w house upon the most solemn occasion in the v 

annals of our country, to commemorate by prop- I 

er funeral services, the sudden and terrible death ^ 

of the respected Chief Magistrate of the republic. ^ 

History in her recital of the past has many sad ; 

records, — many mournful tragedies; but none 3 

can surpass that which in a moment has plunged ^ 

a great people from fervent rejoicing into the J 

deepest grief. Never since the time when the < 

bullet of Gerard closed the earthlv career of the \ 

great-souled Christian, William, Prince of Or- \ 

ange ; never since that fatal day when the knife of ^ 

the fanatical Kavillac let out the life-blood of the $ 
good Henry of Navarre, has a people been called 
upon to endure a shock so horrible, so intensely 
painful, as this mighty American nation within 
the past few days. He who had held firmly the 
helm of the ship of state while she was rolling 
among the raging breakers — he who was our pilot 
in dark waters and in the black night and among 
howling and threatening tempests, — now, as she 
swings loose, as she rights herself, as in the rosy 
dawn of the new day of peace and hope which 

seems so near, she floats along beautiful and grand I 

and free, is suddenly stricken down without one ? 

moment's warning, his blood almost staining his ) 

wife, and his honest and patriot soul ushered into ) 
the presence of God. Can we have hearts ? Can: 

we be Christians 7 Americans 7 Can we love ^ 

with a broad and catholic affection our whole land, { 

and not be bowed down as those who weep in i 

blackness, in the very dust of aflliction and humi- c 

lation ? Let me describe simple facta. ? 

A great civil war broke out in our land. An ) 

sSbrt was made to disrupt the republic. Armies * I 



were marshalled to uphold, and other armies to 
destroy that form of government endorsed by the 
fathers of the country 1 Four years of mingled 
gloom and sunlight passed away. The whole land 
was overshadowed by the wings of the angel of 
death. The south became a grave-yard and a des- 
olation. Battles were fought, cities taken ; there 
were triumphs and reverses. Patriotism stag- 
gard for a moment under the burdens it was called 
upon to assume. 

In ten thousand hearts there was a sepulchre , 
and in that sanctuary of affection was entombed to 
remain there until that heart mouldered into dust, 
the memory of those who had fallen in the fiery 
contest for the preservation of their country. The 
cry went up from millions : "Lord when shall we 
have a righteous and an honorable rest ?" And 
yet, never was there seen in a people, a higher, 
nobler, stronger, sterner determination, than that 
which animated those myriads of fathers and moth- 
ers and wives, who gave up their hearts' best and 
sweetest treasures to preserve that for which the 
soldiers of 1776 had suffered and had died. 

Nothing in old Rome, nothing which religious 
enthusiasm could inspire of daring and self-sacri- 
fice, nothing in the long defence of the Hollanders, 
nothing in the mighty outburst of French lepnbli- 
can patriotism, nothing in the heroic endurance 
of the days of Bunker Hill and 'Washington, noth- 
ing among men ever surpassed the touching, 
steadfast, and awe-inspiring resolution of those 
who said "The republic shall live, it shall come 
forth from this ordeal, it shall not die!" I am 
not here this mournful day, to dwell upon policies 
or mistakes,or measures which might have been im- 
proved, or to make reflections on any party. I 
state as a glorious /<zci!,— bright as the sunlight, — 
the patriotism, the endurance, the unyielding te- 
nacity of the masses of the people of the lo>al states ! 
And their efforts were not in rain. For two 



years, blow after blow told with crashing effect 
against the veryj vitals of the rebellion. Great 
and permanent results attended the efforts of our 
armies. The sounds of strife grew more remote. 
The heart of the nation beat high. Savannah 
fell, and Charleston, and then Petersburg, and 
then Kichmond ; and then all that was left of that 
great army which baffled Pope and Burnside 
and Hooker,surrendered to the national authorites. 

And now went up the mighty shout of joy in 
which all men joined. War, terrible and demora- 
lizing at the best, seemed about to pass away like 
some fearful incubus. The clouds broke, and 
the star of our country .shining in majestic radiance, 
the morning star, seemed to herald the risiag sun 
of a righteous and honorable peace. Clemency 
was suceeding to bitter antagonism, and every- 
where was there hope in the heart, "We sLall 
soon greet oui our husbands and fathers and sons 
and brothers who shall come home to ua ; we will 
weep over the dead, but we will rejoice over the 
living, aud a laud perserved as we hope forever." 

Go back in memory but a very few days and 
isk yourselves how ijou felt, when the electric 
wire flashed the tidings that the end of strife was 
rapidly approaching 1 All over the north what a 
blaze of joy I What exultaiion ! What happi- 
ness ! What tear? of thanksgiving ! What sob- 
bing utterances of praise to God. On Fridav, 
April 14th, the sun in all his radiant coarse looked 
down on no land more triunlphant than this. The 
roar of the canuon, fired not as i, sodiid of war, 
but as a harbinger of peace, was heard among the 
remote pine forests of Maine. It r3verberated 
among the granite cliffs and crags of New Hanlp- 
shire and Vermont. The beautiful hills and val- 
lies of New York and Pennsylvania, echoed its 
deep music. And the smiling west, broad, luxurri- 
ant and free as the winds that sweep over them, 
took up the sound. And thus from post to post, 
over plains and mouatains to the eternal Pacific, 
went the tumultuous thunders which betokened 
the joy of a brave people, full of mercy and kind- 
ness, and willing to forgive and forget under the 
banners of a common union, freed from all future 
occasion for bloodshed. Oh, day of glory and 
gentleness ! why didst thou not linger yet a little 
longer over this gore-stained land ; over those sad 
hearts,over those desolate homes, day of consolation 
and enthusiasm and hope. Had we not suffered 
enough ? Were we not scourged enough ? Had 
not enough of the people's choicest blood watered 
as freely as heaven's rains the harvest fields of the 
grim reaper Death ? Were there too few broken 
hearts, too few few vacant places, too few green 



graves, too few homes where the voices of the 
gallant and true, should be heard no more forever ? 
Truly doth the scripture declare, "boast not thy- 
self of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a 
dayr may bring forth." On Friday, April 14> 
1865, the nation felt as men feel who have 
come from the gloom of a desparing darkness to 
a beautiful light that tinged earth and air and sky 
with the radiant colors of hope. I believe partizan 
feeling was laid aside as unworthy of the hour and 
desecrating to the day. Men had differed as to 
questions of policy, but through all the seeming 
bitterness occasioned by antagonism of opinion^ 
beat after all, strong and true, the pulse of a de- 
cided patriotism. The land was theirs. They 
were fellow citizens. All seemed working for 
the best; and for once, Abraham Lincoln was 
recognized as the honest and sincere patriot, who 
was striving earnestly for what he considered the( 
true wel are of the republic. 

Never in all that long, terrible straggle which 
he had endured did he seem more worthy of grati- 
tude and respect. The voice of obliquy was hush- 
ed, and with warm affection there were millions 
who were saying, "As Washington loved his 
country, so this man loves it." His course was 
plainly marked, — his policy known. Men could 
conjecture from the past as to the future and many 
felt, "In wrath he will remember mercy." Every 
one who loved his country was glad that peace, 
sweet and benevolent and kind was to suceed to 
war. And so, the banners were flung to the coy 
spring breezes, the cities put on a gala dress, the 
swell of rejoicing, martial music filled the air, as 
the notes of the birds in leafy forests. Cannons 
roared, bells were rung, there was laughing and 
greetings and unusal hilarity and joy such as had 
not been known before in this lancl. When night 
came the festives yet continued, "rhe streets of 
towns, villages, capitols, commercial centers were 
a blaze of light, and "Peace, peace!" seemed to 
be in every breeze that gave coolness to the eve- 
ning. Such, my friends, was that joyful 14th of 
of April, 18 65. There were other glorious events 
which clustered about the day. Just four years be- 
fore that majestic banner, beloved and honored by 
the opperessed of every land, had been lowered be- 
fore Buccssful treason. Fort Sumter fell. Our stan- 
dard went down in the gloom of night, but like a 
resurrection from the grave again fluttered in the 
breeze before the earthquake tramp of a million of 
men. On the 14th, of April 1865, while the whole 
land was ringing with hossannahs, it was lifted aloft 
over the same walls. Memorable day ! the bright- 
est and nltimatelj the saddest in our historj 



Day of sunlight. Day of shadow ! Day of life ! 
Night of death ! 

On Saturday, towards the afternoon, a fearful 
rumor went speeding throtigh this part of the west. 
Men heard it with white lips, \*,'ith tearful eyes ; 
with souls full of stern indignation. Abraham 
Lincoln president of the United States, the suc- 
cessful statesmen, the generous, the kindly, the 
honest, — in the plentitude of his fame and power, 
when millions were turning towards him with 
hopes of peace, — was cruely, fouly, premeditatedly 
assassinated ! The presidental chair was stained 
with blood. The bullet of a murderer had de- 
prived the country of its best friend. Who can 
depict the horror of that event, or the wail that 
went up from the burdened heart of a great nation! 
Here and there may have been found men who 
rejoiced ; but I indignantly deny that any good or 
honest or Christian mau, — I care not what his 
political proclivities or his previous condemnation 
of the polices of the late president, — that any such 
man could or would or did rejoice. 

For what, I ask, was there occasion for rejoicing 
gave on the part of souless and heartless wretches 
lost to every sense of humanity and decency- 
Was it a cause of rejoicing that an immortal soul 
without one moment's preparation, was hurled as 
by lightning into the presence of its God ? 

Was it a cause for rejoicing that fair prospects 
of swift-returning^ peace, based upon equity and 
clemency, should give place to bitterer wrath and 
more stern deteimination, and harder demands ? 
That the armies should become desperate and in- 
furiated by the killing of the man they loved ; that 
confidence should give place to distrust and bitter 
revenge overpower sentiments of forgiveness and 
love ? I have heard many expressions of utter 
horror and loathing at this cruel murder from men 
of the two parties of our land. I h^ve not as yet, 
1 hope I never shall be tempted, by hearing from 
the lips of an American a word of rejocing. My 
soul swells with grief as I picture to myself that 
awful event. I see night, beatitiful, and starlit, 
close over the opulent east. I see the angels of 
mercy rejoicing that soon war shall close, that 
soon the soldier shall return to his home, and the 
sounds of strife be heard no more. 

I go to the presidental mansion and I gaze upon 
the weary-hearted and careworn statesman, rejoic- 
ing that day is about to dawn. Kindliness fills his 
heart ; the gospel commands, "Let all wrath and 
malice and evil speaking with bitterncfs be laid 
aside " governs his resolutions towards the south. 
That honest heart loves them, yearns to them, 
a» mistaken brothers. There is peace upon him, — 



the peace of conscious rectitude. He feels he has 
deserved well of the nation, for he has labored 
honestly for the nation. The people are clamor- 
ous to see him on that day of exultant rejoicing ; 
and fatigued, yet desirous of gratifying them, he 
starts with wife and friends for that fatal theatre. 
Alas that he went. Would that some Providence, — 
some preminition, — had stood in h's path. But he 
wect; he takes his seat. The assassin steals to 
the door, glides in to see that his victim is pres- 
ent, gazes upon the kindly face of the president . 
almost hears the beating of his heart, gazes at the 
prisident's wife, and then hides himself in darkness. 
An hour passes, the last of conscious life to the 
president in this world. And then the rapid en- 
trance, the sudden presentation of the pistol at 
that venerable head, the explosion, a cry and the 
murdereragain dissappears in darkness. Thepresi- 
dent's head droops, his eyes close in sudden in- 
sensibility, his wife bends over him, horror and 
consternation seize the audiance. The dying mag- 
istrate is borne to an opposite house. The gospel 
minister, the skilled physician, the astounded cabi- 
net, gather at his bed. But never again shall word 
proceed from those stiffning lips. As the sun 
burst in spring beauty over the national capitol, 
that heart which had beat so tenderly for a nation's 
woes and borne the conscious burden of a nation's 
centring hopes, slowly but surely ceased throb- 
ing forever. Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of 
the United States, the patriot and lover of his 
country as we believe, stood alone and consciously 
in the presence of his God. The president was 
assassinated I That is the event which calls for 
our sorrow this day. The authors, the abettors, I 
leave them to the judgment of God, of the republic 
and of posterity. Never has the dagger of the as- 
sassion benetiteJ a nation. Never has a murder 
given prosperity or power. 

God reigns ; "and the nations are but as a drop 
in the bucket before him." The dagger of Brutus 
did not prevent the despotism of Augustus, the 
shot of Gerard did not stifle the republic of Hol- 
land, the knife of Ravillac did not hinder the up. 
ward progress of France, the axe of Cromwell did 
hinder the liberties of England, and the gulletine 
as it diank the blood of Louis the Martyr, com- 
menced that reaction which resulted in the im. 
perial despotism of Bonaparte. And so, my 

COaNTRTMKN", THE PISTOL OF AN ACTOll SHALL ^fOT 
TURN BACK THE IRRESISTABLE MARCH OF THESK 

Unites Staves l I deplore this eveut not selfishly, 
but, I trust, looking at it from the stand-point of 
the Christian. There hks been bad blood enough; 
there has been blood enoagh. The spirit of char- 



ity and forgiveness was attending upon victory. $ 
But this awful event, if proved to be the work of 
the Confederate government, will awaken in this 
land an indignation and pitiless determination 
such as this world has never seen. Our armies 
are triumphant, our cause successful, our rescourcea 
mighty, our spirit high and strong. It is my 
prayer that the mind of Christ may fill us, and with 
Christ-like feelings and desires we may love even 
in the midst of judgement, 

I have rejoiced to observe in every paper of this 
glorious west but one voice. I believe that among 
those who may differ in regard to minor points 
there is but one sentiment abhorrence of murder , 
stern wrath that a life so precious should have 
been so fouly sacrificed. Let us be Christians even 
in our wrath. Let us in all things be consistent 
with the religion of that meek and holy Jesus who 
cried out upon the cross; "Father forgive them, 
they know not what they do 1" The departed 
president is safe in the hands of his weeping 
countrymen. His memory will be as fragrant as 
that of any martyr who ever fell in the cause of 
humanity. 

I concede to him, imperfections, faults, weak- 
ness ; for he was a man, and who has them not 
who is a man? But the present is vindicating the 
past, even as the future will vindicate the present. 
I trust in God, — the Christian's God. I cannot see 
into His providences, I know not why he has 
permitted this thing, why the land is afflicted with 
such monsters as his murderer. But as the deepest 
midnight hour must come before the dawn is pos- 
sible, 80, perhaps, we must again go down into 
darkness that we may come forth to brighter light. 
"The Lord liveth, he reigneth, he ruleth, his voice 
and his power is among the nations ; blessed be 
his name!" 

I have spoken of the event; I shall now refer to 
a few prominent qualities of the man. first; Abra- 
hom Lincoln rose from the common people. The 
old world is essentialy arristocratic and despotic. 
It honors birth, riches, a splendid ancestral name; 
and hence, the language of the poet. Goldsmith, is 
true: 'Slow rises worth by poverty depressed." 
Feudalism yet lingers in all parts of Europe. That 
proud and lazy nobility, which hates progress, 
despises labor, and laughs at science and literature, 
is no phantasm of the past, but a living presence, 
in Germany, in Italy, especially in Spain, and 
even in comparitively democratic England. But 
this republic has ever been the poor man's friend. 
Its greatest statesmen and generals have struggled 
upward. The senators and legislators and heroes 



of this year, were farmers and store-keepers and 
obscure school teachers, forty years ago. Clay, 
Webster, Jackson, the potriotic Douglas, the mar- 
tyr Lincoln, were all men of the people and worked 
their way up from the people. 

I rejoice that here not the bones of the dead an- 
cester but the power of the living man is respected; 
that talent and trutb and faithfulness raise abve 
wealth and rank. 

Had Abraham Lincoln lived in the old world, 
his virtues would have been exercised in obscurity. 
He was an outgrowth of our institutions. He be- 
came a possibility because the people saw him, un- 
derstood him, and honored him. Forty years ago 
he was splitting rails in the then uncultivated 
forests of Indiana. His father was an humble 
man. Yet all honors were before him who had 
brain and will. Hence, he rose, and the very fact 
of his rising in the midst of the free competition 
of the west and surrounded by earnest rivals, evin- 
ces great superiority of intellect. Without money, 
with a limited education, by the force of intellectu. 
al and moral qualities, he rose to a high position 
many years ago. The man begot a confidence in 
his honesty and wisdom by his acts. It was this 
impression, embodied in the familiar sobriquet of 
"Honest Old Abe," which placed him before the 
astute Sewp.rd and the educated Bates, and ulti- 
mately brought him to the presidental chair. 

To say that he possessed the vast grasp of a W eb- 
ster, or the rapid combinations of a Napoleon, or the 
eloquence of a Clay, would be a vain eulogy. His 
career shows his wonderful sagacity, his straight- 
forward honesty, hisclearand decisive judgement, 
his breadth of intellect. He was a rock as well as 
a light. The nation's confidence in him was not 
only based upon the intellectual, but also on the 
moral. It needed a rock, firm, strong ! 

Second. Abraham Lincoln was a sincere man 
He was always tending to one goal. His legisla- 
tive and congressional career prove this ! What 
he honestly thought to be right, he honestly en- 
deavored to carry out ! His judgement has been 
questioned, and his prudence. He has been called 
a tyrant, a joker; never, I believe, insincere ! But 
this tyrant, this joker, through the gloom of the 
present, is apotheosized, and every honest Ameri- 
can heart turns to him with affectionate regret, 
now that he has passed away, and confesses he was 
not understood; he wasa moral hero, a true patri- 
ot, — a martyr. Does any reader of Motley's Dutch 
Republic forget the cruel suspicions testing upon 
that good and great Prince of Orange, even while 
he was sacrificing all that life holds dear for hit 



fellow-citizens 1 Posterity sees him as he was. 
ia his bloody grave his country learned to know, 
to love, and to lament him. If not now, yet ten 
years from now, when war has ceased, when preju- 
dice has passed away, in the light of the develop- 
ment of that time, such, I believe, will be the 
memory of Abraham Lincoln ! 

Third. I cannot pass by the kindliness, sim- 
plicity and cheerfulness of his disposition 1 Those 
who knew him, loved him ! He was a devoted 
friend, a kind husband, a loving father I The ' 
oppressed, the poor, the miserable, awakened his i 
sympathies, and he become their advocate ! His I 
heart was a good heart, and his latest acts prove it; 
Ho was clement and forgiving 1 His simplicity, — 
I might say his naive unconsciousness of disposition 
— led him into little acts which sometimes seem- 
ed to detract from his dignity. His cheerfulness, a 
tendency to cast off the heavy burden of national 
anxiety and care which rested upon him , gave rise 
toahabitofanecdote,telling which, sometimes, and 
•to some, seemed out of time and out of place. But 
would, my f riends.that kindly heart could beat again, 
would those friendly eyes could again light up 
with love and joy and cheerfulness ! Alas ! all that 
belongs to his humanity is a thing of the past ! 

I believe him to have been a patriot, and that 
his heart beat true to the best interests of his conn- 
try. It is not my object, from this sacred desk, 
to discuss his policy or his proclamations. We 
can say this much for his vindication : he took the 
helm when we seemed spell-bound and paralyzed, 
and when there was no power in the national gov- 
ernment ; a gigantic and desperate rebellion was 
abroad in vast states of the republic 1 He raised 
armiss, selected men who raised money; a devoted 
and enthusiastic people sustained him. When he 
died , that rebellion, crushed, baffled, despairing, 
everywhere was surrendering to the national au- 
thority ! 

Shall I forget here that he was free from all 
those degrading habits which have so often cast a 
stigma npoQ the bright escutcheons of some of 
our greatest men ! If I am correctly informed, 
in all his career he exercised an entire control over 
his appetites, and never indulged in the use of 
intoxicating beverages. The grog shops of Wash- 
ington and Springfield, and their dens of pollution 
were not honored or dishonored by his presence ! 
Mr. Lincoln was a loving fathej ; and he went to 
the capitol with three sons, one of them, a bright- 
eyed, beautiful and promising boy. But the youth 
drooped, and drooped, and presently that father's 
heart was wrong with the agony of his death 1 A 
great change then came over the president's lonl. 



Heaven, — the unseen world, — opened before hia 
earth-sick eyes. He caught a glimpse of that better 
land, where no cannons rumble, or drums beat, or 
fraud, or cruelty, or oppression is seen ; where 
"the wicked cease from troubling and the weary 
are at rest." He had hitherto trusted in morality 
he had hitherto mingled with the world as of the 
w)rld. But death brought life! A year passed 
on, and then come the terrible agony of (Gettysburg. 
In and out of that green cemetery and among quiet 
graves fell the pitiless storm of battle. The re- 
public fought for its existence, and triumphed [ 
Autumn came, and the eloquence of Everett was 
heard commemorating that new Thermopylic as 
a national sepulchre. It was an august scene. 
Those shattered monuments, those dead heroes, 
that vast multitude, and clear and ringing above 
the breezes of the hills the voice of the modern 
Cicero. Never since that day when Pericles ut- 
tered his funeral discourse over the Athenian pa- 
triots, had there been one more solemn, sublime. 
or impressive. Mr. Lincoln was there. Soon 
after his return an intimate friend asked him, 
"are you a professing Christian ? " and our depart- 
ed president made this reply : 

"A few months ago I could not have said so ; 
but now I say, i/es 1 God took away my son, and 
that moved me deeply, more than I can tell. But 
a short time since I stood among the dead at Get- 
tysburg. I saw those martyrs to liberty reposing 
in their silence, and then and there I gave myself 
to Christ.'' According to his own confession, 
Abraham Lincoln was a Christian. 

We are told by those whotnew, that there was|a 
peculiar kindliness and gentleness about the pres- 
ident in the last few months of his life. Perhaps 
the Christian felt premonitions that he should soon 
be with Christ ! He must have felt that not quite 
yet, but before long, his work would be over. 
Rest peaceably in your untimely grave, oh ! martyr 
and statesman 1 friend as Christ was friend of the 
poor man and of the heavy laden man ! 

It was hard to die, just as that for which ho toil- 
ed, was within his grasp ! Hard to die ice think, 
but God thought otherwise. It may be his mis- 
sion was ended, that at the master's biddmg to 
come up higher 1 Let the Lord's will be accom- 
plished. And now, my friends, as you know it is 
unusual for me to refer to any but strictly religious 
matters in this sacred desk, hear me for one mo- 
ment. Ourcountry is in thehandsof that God, who, 
according to the plain teachings of the Bible, is a 
God of justice and judgment and always on the 
side of the right. Next to God I love that country • 
I know men die, nations perish, empires and re- 



pnb lic8 pass away, but God lives ! It is a part of 
my creed that for every great epoch there is the man 
whom God will place th^re and keep there, until 
He calls him np higher ! Four years ago things 
were very dark; now setting aside this terrible 
e vent, they are bright. While we as a nation do 
our duty, God will take care of us. While we as 
individuals do onr duty, his right arm, strong, 
eternal, irresistable, will protect. Moses died, but 
God raised up Joshua. Joshua died, but after Josh, 
ua, was Gideon, and Sampson, and David, and Ju- 
daa Maccabees. As long as the Jews were faithful 
God was faithful, and gave them leaders. 

Look at Scotland, that land of natural sterility, 
d raped in cold mists, and stern as the Highlander 
who once marched to battle. Faithful to God, 
obedient to the dictates of a Christian civilization, 
alive with a beautiful philanthropy, see how God 
has blessed her and prospered her. 

Turn to Russia, and what a majestic spectacle 1 
Freedom taking the place of oppression, cities im- 
proving, villages springing up in the very depths 
of the vast pine forests, a pure religion, quietly 
but steadily and grandly working its way. Then 
turn to this magnificent America. What grandeur 
associates itself with the very first pages of its 
history ! What a land to develope, a laud of 
mighty mountains, and of valleys rich with mine- 
rals, of boundless fertil plains irrigated by kingly 
rivers. And is this great continent to be forsaken 
of God, vyhen watered by so much patriot blood ! 
No, my friends! I do not believe it. God has a 
splendid future for this people if they are only 
obedient to the principles of the gospel. Here 
shall be proved the capacity of men for self gov- 
ernment ; here kings and lords and the foolish 
paraphernalia of monarchy and feudalism are to 
receive the lesson which shall teach them the abili- 
ty of man to grovv strong and great in obedience 
to laws he himself originates and he himself 
maintains. I expect that soon yonder banner of 
glory and of beauly will wave over a great, free, 
and prosperous land 1 that soon our armies shall 
return to their homes, and the stains of war pass 
away forever from the soil of the republic. [ ex- 



pect to gaze upon the spectacle of a mighty people, 
united, firm, compact, full of equity and clemency 
merciful in triumph, strong even in adversity, 
obedient to God, purified^and sanctified by suffer, 
ing, and sending forth a moral impulse which 
shall make despotism everywhere tremble and 
disappear! The spirit of our murdered president 
may, perchance, look down smiling from heaven 
upon the peace, the union, the progress, upward, 
onward, which awaits our land. 

Beat then the muffled drums, 'drape the flags of 
the republic, let the mournful death-march sigh 
forth upon our ears ; humanity has vindicated 
itself, and proves men are mortal ! But before me 
I see the genius of America, saddened and yet 
hopeful, and I hear her as she utters forth words 
of more than Delphic power -. "By the graves of 
those who have fallen, for a hundred years, in de- 
fenceof the republic, by the blood that has been 
shed, and the woe that has been endured, these 
beautiful states, homes of religion and science and 
commerce, and all that elevates and sanctifies, 
these lovely and loving sisters shall live, perreni- 
al, perpetual and immortal, for God is a God of 
right ! " 

Xet us hope in our new president, — time is to 
develope and try him. And over, as it were, the 
dead body of our departed chief magistrate, I urge 
a union of all men who love this blessed and pros- 
perous land. I urge that partizan distinctions be 
forgotten, and that bitter invectives be laid aside 
forever. I urge that men turn, everywhere, to 
the true interests of the human race, that they ad- 
vocateand uphold that morality, that govermental 
equity, that charity, love and justice which finds 
its true completeness in the life of Jesns, and those 
divine truths which flow forth from him. Let 
stern and righteous judgement be visited upon the 
assassins, let this great people fully vindicate its 
power and ita majesty and its authority. Let our 
land be purged and cleansed as God wills, and then, 
oh ! righteous God, grant that strife and bloodshed 
and murder may cease among the nations of the 
earth, and Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done 
throaghout all races, even as it is done in HeaTen I 



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